I had a defining moment this week.

But before I get to that, there were other things of note:

1. We went to the dukas to eat. Dukas are restaurants within walking distance. Their walls are made of tin, and the one we ate at was deluxe; it had a cement floor rather than a dirt one. There was a large menu on the wall. It was primarily for decoration, for you soon learn it is better to ask `What do you have?’ than request different items that they don’t have. Chickens regularly walked in and out of the restaurant. Coke, which is ubiquitous in Africa, is served from the bottle and is warm. A friend from here swears that he was in a duka and ordered chicken, and the cook grabbed a chicken that walked in the door and prepared it as they watched. The food was good, but we didn’t order chicken.
2. A group of us went to Nakuru National Park. It is a large park, almost 40 miles in total size. You can drive around on its unpaved roads and see rhino’s, flamingos, warthogs, lions, monkeys and baboons. After going through for several hours, we stopped to eat lunch. We were sitting in a circle when a baboon leaped in and grabbed a sandwich. Unlike many thieves, he just sat and ate it. There are several things I didn’t know about baboons before I arrived in Africa; to be honest, I don’t ever recall having a thought about one before I came here. But they have two-inch molars, and four of them can take on a lion, so you don’t mess with them. What a common defense is is to throw stones near them; you don’t want to throw at them, because that can make them mad and they will charge. They will sometimes pick up stones and throw back! So, with a stern warning to not show our teeth because that is a sign of aggression, we drove them off with stones and moved our picnic. Five minutes later, they attacked again, and grabbed potato chips, and calmly ate them while we got more stones, and drove them off. We had to stand guard so they wouldn’t swipe our food.for the rest of the picnic.
3. The newspaper here is called `The Nation.’ There is a census going on now, and a headline will read `This census the best ever.’ In the third paragraph, they will mention that 106 census takers have threatened to destroy the documents if they are not paid in full. (Incidentally, one of the questions is `How many wives do you have?’ We don’t have Internet access in this part of Kenya because the phone lines are so bad, but it is on line and line for line it’s the most unusual read you’ll have today. How many census takers in the US are injured by hippos in the line of duty? Http://nationaudio.com
4. We went to church today down in the valley at a Masai church. It has a tin roof, dirt floors and wooden benches with no back. It was in Swahili, so much of it flew by me. But the worship was joyous, and the singing was beautiful. When they took the offering, I saw people with nothing give their tithes, and at the end of the service, our whole family was given wristbands and necklaces.

I don’t know how to articulate this, but when I saw these people, most of them barefoot or in shoes that had huge holes in them giving their tithes, I felt like my whole life passed before my eyes, and I saw myself for the first time. And I didn’t feel worthy to be in that place. And the truth is, I’m not worthy.

I always said I wanted to come to Africa to learn, not to teach. The kids are arriving tomorrow, and I will be teaching, but I’m learning more than I could ever teach.

YOP

Steve Peifer